UCSF Fresno Psychiatry Residency Program

UCSF Fresno Psychiatry Residency Program

Our Psychiatry Residency Program is a fully accredited and integral part of the University of California, San Francisco, Department of Psychiatry, offering strong clinical training in a community-based setting.

Our program is intentionally small, providing for personal attention to each resident as an individual. Based at Community Regional Medical Center, VA Central California Health Care System, Community Behavioral Health Center, Fresno County Department of Behavioral Health, Kaiser Permanente and Inspire Health Medical Group (IHMG) - Psychiatry (formerly University Psychiatry Associates), our program offers outstanding breadth and variety in its patient population, training venues, and didactic courses.

Our program is geared for those future psychiatrists who are interested in a true integration of the biological, psychological, and social dimensions of the patient. We emphasize excellence in clinical work, as well as the development of critical thinking and the ability to absorb and create new knowledge and skills.

Our teaching faculty is dedicated to clinical training for residents and medical students, taking full advantage of the personalized learning environment that exists at UCSF Fresno. We offer an extensive and comprehensive didactic curriculum, dedicating 5 hours per week in each year of training to seminars integrating Biopsychiatry, Psychopharmacology, Psychodynamics, Psychotherapy, and Subspecialty Topics.

Each year, our residents perform well on the Psychiatry Resident In-Training Exam (PRITE), while our graduates similarly excel on the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN) certification exams.

Working in a variety of public and private sector training venues, our residents care for ethnically, socioeconomically, and diagnostically diverse patients utilizing the full spectrum of psychiatric treatments. 

And finally, we actively encourage residents to maintain and develop their lives and interests outside of medicine. At UCSF Fresno, on-call responsibilities are minimal, stipends are competitive, and the cost of living is among the lowest in the West. As a result, our residents have the time and money to take full advantage of California’s culture and recreation.

If you are seeking a smaller, clinically oriented psychiatry residency program with a balanced and personalized approach to training, we invite you to join us at UCSF Fresno.

Curriculum

Internship
The main focus of training the internship half-year is to consolidate one’s abilities, skills and identity as a physician. Residents spend six months on the Internal Medicine and Neurology Services at the VA and Community Regional Medical Center (CRMC), including a dedicated rotation in Emergency Medicine. The medical and neurological expertise gained during the internship forms the foundation on which to build expanding psychiatric skills and knowledge.

Hospital Psychiatry Year
During this twelve-month period, residents spend six months in inpatient psychiatry settings developing skills in the evaluation and treatment of acutely ill psychiatric and substance abusing patients. Training goals during these months include mastering interviewing and diagnostic skills, becoming familiar with all the major psychopathological diagnoses and obtaining a firm grounding in psychopharmacologic treatment skills. Clinical experiences include rotations through the inpatient wards of Community Behavioral Heath Center and the VA Medical Center. The Hospital Psychiatry Year also includes two months in a dedicated rotation in Emergency Psychiatry at the VA Medical Center, during which residents learn psychiatric crisis evaluation and treatment in a general hospital setting. The remaining four months of the Hospital Psychiatry Year are spent on the Consultation-Liaison Service at Community Regional Medical Center, where residents develop expertise in the comprehensive, biopsychosocial evaluation and treatment of patients in a general medical hospital setting. During this rotation great emphasis is placed on the relationship and interaction between the psychiatrist and his or her medical colleagues. Residents are helped to develop an identity as medical specialists who have something unique to contribute to the care of patients in a general hospital setting.

The Introductory Outpatient Year
Moving on to exclusively outpatient settings, residents begin a two-year rotation at Inspire Health Medical Group - Psychiatry (formerly University Psychiatry Associates, or UPA), the residency’s program CRMC-based outpatient training clinic. This clinic is a purely educational training venue wherein residents treat a diverse patient population and begin to develop their brief and long-term psychotherapy skills. During this introductory outpatient year, residents divide their time between IHMG-P and the Mental Health Clinic at the VA where they will rotate through dedicated Geriatric and Substance Abuse outpatient programs. Experience in group therapy is also a major psychotherapeutic focus at the VA.

The Advanced Outpatient Year
During this second full year of outpatient training residents continue to refine their outpatient management and psychotherapeutic skills. As patient care in IHMG-P continues, the care of children and adolescents is emphasized. Residents now divide their time between IHMG-P and the Fresno County Department of Behavioral Health. While working in one of the regional clinics of Fresno County’s full-spectrum multidisciplinary community mental health system, residents will treat a wide array of patients with major mental illness. The uniquely multi-ethnic population of Fresno County creates an emphasis on cross-cultural psychiatry during this rotation.

The Elective Block
The final six months of the residency program is reserved for elective rotations that allow residents to create an individualized curriculum and gain additional experience in the areas of their choosing. Some options include: an intensive primary care liaison experience, an administrative experience, and additional experiences in inpatient, emergency, geriatric, child/adolescent, forensic, correctional, and private practice psychiatry.

How to Apply

The UCSF Fresno Psychiatry residency program is a four-year ACGME-accredited program. The program matches six PGY-1 residents each year.

The UCSF Fresno Psychiatry residency program participates in the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP).  All applications are handled through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) sponsored by the Association of American Medical Colleges.

UCSF Fresno Trainee Salary Scales and Benefits

2025 - 2026 Salary Scales

UCSF Fresno is a regional campus of the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine. House staff are employees of the University of California, San Francisco. Residency programs are sponsored by the UCSF Fresno Medical Education Program. Major training partners in Fresno include: Community Medical Centers & the Veterans Administration Central California Health Care System. Training partners collaborate to provide house staff with other benefits such as parking, meals, computer and Internet access. 

Resident and Fellow Salary Scale, UCSF School of Medicine, UCSF Fresno, 2025-2026*

* This salary scale reflects information for UC employed trainees at UCSF Fresno.